Re: Sacrifices made for Free Software

[Nicholas Johnson]

I should have mentioned I was majoring in computer science.

It couldn't do any harm for the community to "bombard the dean with
letters of protest". I'm in favor. I'm not sure how high up the chain of
command the "proprietary software mandate" goes though. It seems to not
be specific to the engineering department even. I talked to a group
organizer who said that they have to use Zoom to run meetings as an
employee of the university, so I know Zoom at least isn't
department-specific. Other software like Visual Studio is specific to
the engineering department, but they might even be "encouraged" from
above to use it since the university as a whole is partnered with Microsoft.

I agree that for most people, it's not about what's more ethical. Most
don't even know ethics applies. The 4 freedoms are a solution, but that
doesn't matter when most people have never heard of the problem. Next
time I'll be sure to start with power relationships of possession of the
source code and software licenses. That seems like a good place to
start, especially for SIUe since they denounce power inequality in
regard to other social issues.

- Nicholas Johnson

On 2020-06-08 22:32, Jim Garrett wrote:
> I just read your blogs and...wow.  It's clear that you're educating
> yourself in the best sense, and the college is being bureaucratic and
> inflexible.
>
> In reading this thread, I was initially siding with the folks
> recommending that you bear with it up and finish college.  For some, or
> most, that would the right answer.  But then reading your blog and
> seeing that your area is computer science, I think it does make sense
> to drop out and focus on your portfolio.  It seems that your
> struggle is part of your education.  Clearly you won't be successful in
> the mainstream...but with software there are successful activities
> outside the mainstream.  For instance, Red Hat and Nextcloud are
> successful.
>
> If you'd like our community to bombard the dean with letters of
> protest, just say the word!
>
> As an aside, I've found that it doesn't occur to most people that
> there exists an ethical dimension to software at all.  To them, it's not
> a question of one mode being more ethical than another, it's thinking
> about ethics at all.  Frankly I didn't see this clearly myself until
> attending the LibrePlanet conference some years ago.  So I've been
> putting it this way (which works better in e-mail than in person):
> - In today's world, is information important?  Is there an ethical
>   dimension to information and communications?  Could there be power
>   relationships involved?
> - Are the tools and technologies we use to manage our information and
>   communications important?  Is there an ethical dimension to those?
>   Could there be power relationships involved?
>
> Jim Garrett
> Melrose, MA
>
>
> On Mon, 08 Jun 2020 20:13:19 +0000
> Davis Remmel <d@visr.me> wrote:
>
>>> Of course people might argue the merits of college education to
>>> start with  
>> I'll argue that. :)
>>
>> I didn't even go to college because I saw it as a scam where most of
>> the dollars goes to administration, not instruction.
>>
>> To say some words about choosing a life of Free software: it has
>> served me phenomenally well. I've used Free software in personal and
>> professional life for a decade, and I would never have made as much
>> money as I did (as the VP of Engineering at a data center ISP) if I
>> didn't go down that path. All I know is directly attributable to
>> being able to read and modify source code, to learn _deeply_ how
>> systems work.
>>
>> The people who matter, those who admin the big networks and write
>> systems code, all agree with the Free philosophy and wouldn't be
>> where they are, either, without going deep into it.
>>
>> It is exactly that knowledge that has afforded me well. Reasoning
>> about your work saying, "we'll use this because it is better because
>> X," instead of, "nobody got fired for using Y," is very special--most
>> "professionals" I've had to work with couldn't program a rice cooker,
>> and fewer ever heard of GNU. Fad-Driven Development is a cancer, and
>> the ones who get ahead are those who see it for what it is.
>>
>>> People will generally take you more seriously  
>> I'd take the OP more-seriously if he stuck to his moral principles,
>> and I would hire him before someone who graduated by "making a CPU
>> out of a PIC" or wrote some CRUD web apps. There will always be other
>> people who dismiss us because they don't understand us, but I would
>> argue they aren't worth our time to begin with. It's a big world.
>>
>>> You'll be in a better negotiating position to get work that that
>>> requires less proprietary software and makes more money  
>> You don't get less of something (non-Free software) by using more of
>> it. Money is a stupid construct, but it's quite nice that it falls
>> from the sky upon those who took the path of greater
>> resistance...those who learned a heck of a lot more than their peers
>> by taking that path.
>>
>>> You'll be in a better position to get work at all, considering how
>>> the economy is moving  
>> To OP: don't ever settle! You're still young, but don't make the same
>> mistake so many others do: to settle for a job, sacrificing a little
>> of yourself for something/one else. The gift of Life is incredibly
>> precious, and limited!, and you're here now so make the best use of
>> your time. When you die, you'll be able to look back with nothing but
>> a smile on the decisions you made, and you'll likely inspire others
>> to follow in your footsteps. You can either be a leader or a
>> follower, and the former sets the rules for the latter. I suggest
>> leading by example; on that, you're off to a heck of a good start.
>>
>> :)
>>
>> --
>> Davis
>>
>> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>> On Monday, June 8, 2020 1:23 PM, Roberto Beltran via
>> libreplanet-discuss <libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org> wrote:
>>
>>>  
>>>> I studied for 2 years at SIUe before dropping out
>>>> because it became impossible for me to continue and keep my
>>>> freedom.  
>>> I don't want to make any assumptions about your financial situation
>>> or past education experience or why you were studying, but for
>>> others that might be in a similar position, I'm not sure this is a
>>> good move.
>>>
>>> I graduated in 2018 and I've definitely done my share of
>>> negotiating with professors and taking small hits to my grade to
>>> avoid proprietary software. When it came down to it though, if it
>>> was between graduating and freedom, I picked graduating.
>>>
>>> As a (perhaps broke or indebted) student you have little power.
>>> You've tried your best move: organizing your peers, but it seems
>>> this was ineffective. I think the next best move is to suck it up
>>> for two measly years so you'll be in a position where as a
>>> professional:
>>>
>>> 1.  People will generally take you more seriously
>>> 2.  You'll be in a better negotiating position to get work that
>>> that requires less proprietary software and makes more money 3.
>>> You'll be in a better position to get work at all, considering how
>>> the economy is moving
>>>
>>>     and further if you stay in and can carve out even 2 hours or so
>>> a week you can try starting a libre student group. It can be
>>> unofficial to start, don't let the bureaucracy spin your wheels
>>> (this is where I messed up). You probably won't see the fruit from
>>> that tree, but future students might.
>>>
>>>     On the other hand, by dropping out, sure you stop being a
>>> victim in the context of your school that I've never heard of, but
>>> you're setting yourself up to be more of a victim in society at
>>> large where you're spending the rest of your life.
>>>
>>>     Of course people might argue the merits of college education to
>>> start with, but I'm operating under the assumption that you've
>>> weighed your options and decided college was a good move for you.
>>>
>>>     Best regards,
>>>     Roberto Beltran
>>>
>>>
>>> libreplanet-discuss mailing list
>>> libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
>>> https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss  
>>
>>
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